The Natural World

No matter how powerful humankind thinks itself to be, the forces of nature have a way of asserting themselves, bringing with them both awe and terror. Fires and floods, tornadoes and droughts--all provide startling images that remind us of the power of the natural world. By comparison, our own efforts can seem puny: a railroad buckles, houses cower before an oncoming storm, fishermen desperately try to combat a flood in torrent. In the night sky, a light show beyond the wildest dreams of human engineers makes us primeval once more, gazing to the heavens with the same kind of wonder that...